UK weather: 'Barrage of storms' to strike Britain in February

After freezing conditions caused misery for Britons throughout January, heavy rain and gales are set to hit the UK in February in a "barrage of storms," according to weather forecasters.

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The unsettled conditions from the Atlantic are expected to arrive in days as milder weather brings wind and rain.

Speaking to The Daily Mirror, AccuWeather forecaster Eric Leister said: "A shift in the overall weather pattern will bring the return of potent Atlantic storms. There have been no named windstorms in January.

"However, this pattern change will likely yield multiple named storms during February."

He said there is likely to be flooding, damage to trees and travel chaos, while adding that the "barrage of storms will continue into the middle of February."

Meanwhile, the Met Office is predicting heavy rain and snow for this weekend.

It says Saturday will see "rain and hill snow across Scotland which will gradually edge eastwards, not clearing east and north-eastern parts of the UK until the evening."

The west can expect showers and the rain may reach the south-west by dawn.

For Sunday, the Met Office says: "Rain and milder air will continue moving across the UK, reaching south-west Scotland by evening. Ahead of this though, plenty of sunshine but feeling chilly."

Next week, the weather will be mild and windy throughout with spells of rain moving through, "although a drier and brighter day is currently on the cards for Wednesday," the Met Office says.

Spokeswoman Nicola Maxey at the Met Office told The Sun: "We are looking at a general change to more unsettled conditions. There's a series of weather fronts coming through over the next week."

Visit weather.aol.co.uk for your local forecast.